Hello from Rocky Mountain National Park! *Many Pix*

[BackdoorArts]

How do I upload the data or attach it? I am sjhooting in JPeg L Fine now

It should be living in the JPG file and there are browser plug-ins that will let you look at it, but yours don't appear to have it. Some editing software will strip that information out, unfortunately, usually when you export it out/save it. You may have mentioned it but I can't find it - what software are you using?

 

[topgunwghs]

Edited with FastStone Image Viewer

ISO: 800-3200
F/stop was higher this time from 9-16
Shutter-1/400+

I like these pictures, but still having a hard time getting the whole bird to focus in, also tried moving shots for the first time and got a series of 12 pictures of the Kestrel hovering, probably the easiest moving shot and this, after a crop, is the best one I could get, obviously some quality was lost on the crop, but the original size image wasn't the clearest either, I do believe I needed a higher shutter speed.

Moving shot:
Shutter: 1/500
ISO: 400
F/11



These images were using Dynamic focus and full area.
Shutter: 1/500
ISO: 1600
F/5.6

 

[BackdoorArts]

If the Kestral On A Wire shots aren't sharp it probably has more to do with distance from the lens (i.e. "Pixels per bird") than the settings. Once in flight 1/500 isn't enough to stop beating wings (that seems to kick in around 1/800) but the tail feathers look sharp. f11 is plenty of DoF. Nice shots, you just might have needed a longer lens.

As for the land critters, what you're lacking here is depth of field. Here's where you may have wanted f11. With the two elk you have one in focus but not the other. With the closeup you have the antler sharp but not the face. And in these situations I usually want single point focus so I can control where I want it to focus rather than having it choose it for me. The close-up might have been better served, even at f5.6, with the focus point on the forehead as you'd get the center in focus and only the extremities of the antlers out.

Nice shots - keep shooting, keep learning.

 

[topgunwghs]

Gotcha, thanks for all the quick responses hippie and everyone else! I pretty much know what to do with animals now and to keep adjusting and realize my 300mm limitations.

Now I need some info on landscape, which will probably make 75% of my shots throughout time.
I took these with Nikkor 18-55mm AF-S VR kit lens with a nice UV filter.

AperturePriority:
Shutter: 1/125-1/640
ISO: 100 on All
F/5-5.3 on all except the first photo with the parking lot, it was F/10 (too much for landscape right?)
Wide area focus mode













And as you can see ^^^ the fact that I can get to these areas in a 15min drive and 30min hike, is why my love and need for knowledgeable photo skills has been reignited severely. All the quick help I can get, the better, I am using all the knowledge you're giving me and putting it to good use daily, so hopefully (soon) I can take some extremely hi quality photos that I can stare at and say, "wow... I took those!"

p.s. It was EXTREMELY windy, and the only time i could get the tripod up was the first shot with the high F/stop, VR on the rest of the time leaning on trees etc.

 

[BackdoorArts]

Absolutely jealous the minute I saw that parking lot. That hike up to Emerald Lake is breathtaking and one of my fondest memories of my 3 days there. Mid-September and snows were just starting to come. It was the warmest of the 3 days there, but the most overcast, and as we got to the top it started snowing, but the snow looked like those ice cream dipping-dots. No one wanted to get stuck in the snow, so by the time we got to the lake there was no one anywhere near. Absolutely magical. Just my wife and I and this small bird that would dive under the water, swim about 10-15 feet and then hop up on branch. No idea what kind of bird it was.

Anyway, as for aperture and landscape, remember that it controls your depth of field, so unless you purposefully want only certain parts of the view in focus you're probably going to want to go to a smaller (higher number) aperture. For views this deep and wide I'd be shooting at least f/11 and checking my depth of field preview button to make sure I'm getting everything I want.

 

[topgunwghs]

o0o ok, I though the lowest numer is what i wanted for landscape to get everything in focus, will do. Was it a small grey blue bird? American Dipper, they have quite the song little cuties. Yup, when trailridge Rd is closed, this is where I meander about but it is technically "snowing" every day there in the winter, usually its the wind blowing it down from the tps and cglaciers, and it looks like "Diamond Ice" that yellowstone gets from extreme temperatures and no humidity, I do love it. So glad you remembered it right away!

 

[fotojack]

o0o ok, I though the lowest numer is what i wanted for landscape to get everything in focus

Use this:

View attachment 24925

 

[topgunwghs]

Thanks Jack! Then, if I have one bird I want to be close to the max the lens can do? ie; 5.6? Unless there area few birds then, 11 or more...

Took a couple more today with the following settings:


1/2000
F/8
1600

1/2000
F/6.3
1600

1/1000
F/5.6
1600

1/500
F/11
1600

 

[topgunwghs]

Took a few more today and I sure did get LUCKY!!..

I spent about an hour perfecting a shot with an American Dipper, I took about 50 and ended up with this shot and one other, the fact is the bird was probably about 6ft. away. So, obviously I managed to get a great shot, but this one is better than the others I think since the whole body is in focus.


1/800
F/5.6
800

Then after an hour of that I headed back across the field and placed the camera in the car, took off the gloves and just before I closed the door I was compelled to look back at the field again...


1/1000
F/5.6
200

1/400
F/9
200

1/640
F/7.1
200

All images have been cropped and sharpened and lack that PUNCH of natural SHARPNESS that the dipper has.
I tried shutter priority/Aperture priority, playing with the wheel the whole time, all free hand VR 300mm... Is it just the lens "maxing out" or what could I have done to get a clear, crisp entire body or at least face and beautiful fur shot, from the distance of about 40yards?

 

[BackdoorArts]

Wonderful photos - all of them. Great score on the Bobcat. Most zoom lenses will be a little soft at the end points, and that's probably what you're getting with the 55-300. A lot of the great nature stuff you see out there is getting shot withpro bodies and 300, 400 and 600mm prime lenses. Big, expensive glass that is razor sharp, on bodies costing 3X what you're current investment is - maybe more. There's nothing to sneeze about with these shots. Hard to say whether you could have done "better". The cat is in good focus in each shot and your shutter speed is more than adequate for handholding the lens. It's possible that you may have had a little less softness using a monopod, but I doubt it would be much different. Different post-processing software might - MIGHT - be able to add some more to it, but without knowing what you had in the basic RAW file it's hard to say.

I'd be proud of all of these.

 

[topgunwghs]

I am learning to become less shutter obsessed. You all had me baffled with the low f/stop number, I figured that is what I wanted for taking pictures of individual animals/birds. But, then I realized I was zoomed in and needed a larger focus area for that already cropped picture, so this was take at f/10 or f/13, much better!